Items Tagged with 'wildfires'

President Joe Biden’s nominee as chief agricultural trade negotiator, Doug McKalip, gets a Senate confirmation hearing this week, and House Democrats will advance a child nutrition reauthorization bill that would expand eligibility for free lunches and increase meal subsidies for schools.

The Agriculture Department will soon start distributing $6 billion in disaster relief payments for losses producers had in 2020 and 2021.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is providing $98.4 million in new forest heath grants to fund wildlife resilience projects.

The House Agriculture Committee debated $66 billion in new spending for agricultural research, renewable energy and forestry over strenuous objections of Republicans, who used the deliberations to highlight President Joe Biden’s proposal to increase taxes on inherited assets.

House Democrats are proposing historic funding for conservation programs, agricultural research, renewable energy and forestry and other climate-related priorities as part of a $3.5 trillion tax and spending package.

House Democrats are proposing a $35 billion expansion of child feeding assistance as part of their massive tax and spending package, and a lawmaker announced Wednesday that the measure also would include $1 billion in biofuel aid.

Californians identified water supply and drought as their top environmental concern in a recent survey, and the number of respondents who said they believe climate change is contributing to drought increased.

The nominee for undersecretary of natural resources and environment at USDA, who will oversee the Forest Service, promised he would work closely with local communities in managing the more than 190 million acres of national forests to prevent wildfires and create markets for wood products.

During a visit with Gov. Gavin Newsom to the site of the massive 2020 August Complex fire, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack promised the federal government would send more resources to California, and other states combatting increased wildfire threats, to prevent catastrophic fires.

Ahead of what could be another severe wildlife season, a new tool uses air quality and atmospheric data to give farmers up-to-the-minute information about crop risk.